When you’re finally ready to move out of your current rental home, getting your deposit back can be an extremely stressful situation.
As a renter, you probably haven’t made any major alterations to any part of the property, but you may have hung shelves, picture frames, there may be some damage that goes beyond simple wear and tear.
Landlords will look at absolutely everything in the property, but with only the pictures from the inventory document to compare it all against, you have a chance to repair the property.
You’re going to find yourself buying paint to fix other damage in your rental property, so pick up an entire tin of it. It doesn’t need to be fancy paint, just a product that matches the colour the landlord used.
If you can’t get the exact colour, get one as close as possible and repaint the entire room. Landlords typically use white or magnolia paint, which makes damage repair just a smidge easier on your wallet.
These are the quickest fix for any renter, and it won’t cost you much of anything to cover up this kind of damage. Small holes will be caused by anything that has been nailed or drilled into the wall. You can cover this damage up in two ways, depending on where the damage is.
For holes in the walls of your property, use filler. You can buy a pot of filler from any hardware or DIY store. Fill in the holes, wait for the filler to dry, and paint over it.
Holes in the skirting board or other woodwork areas of the home will need wood filler. When using filler, it’s important to sand down the area after the filler has tried. This will give you a better surface to paint over.
Cracks that run along the walls and ceilings aren’t your responsibility, unless they are large cracks that were caused by you during your time at the property.
You’ll need a pot of wall plaster, a scraper, and some patience. Like wall and wood filler, plaster pots can be brought from local hardware stores. Wilkinson’s, the Range, B&Q – take your pick.
Fill in the hole in the wall, wait for it to set, and then use sandpaper to even out the area. Grab the paint for that room and paint over the cover-up. Done!
Some pet damage won’t be cheap to fix. You’ll need to weigh the cost against the possibility of losing your entire deposit.
There are carpet companies out there that specialise in pet damage. In the first instance, send pictures of your carpet (in good lighting) and ask for a quote. Fixing a shredded carpet is possible, but it’s not something that the average renter will be able to do without making a mess.
Shredded wallpaper cannot be fixed, but you could paint over the area and hope to camouflage some of the damage.
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